Can you guess what this is a definition of?

An unusual and exciting, typically hazardous experience or activity. It may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome.

Verb:

Engage in hazardous and exciting activity, especially the exploration of unknown territory

Synonyms:

Noun. Venture

Verb. Risk – venture – hazard – jeopardize – dare – jeopardy

ad·ven·ture /ad'venCH?r/

When I was a little girl, fairy tales were my first introduction to the word adventure. I immediately knew that this is what my life was going to be, a truly wonderful adventure. I was sure an adventure is what everybody's life was meant to be. And yet, when I looked at the grown ups in my life they didn't look at all as if they felt life was an adventure.

My father's stories of his time in India during the war were definitely an adventure. But, from what I could tell, as soon as he left India and came back to England his adventure had stopped. He married, took on a nine to five job, had us children, a mortgage, a sick mother, and all other kinds of problems....and his adventure stopped.

So, I deduced that England, marriage and owning things had to be the problem. My conviction deepened that I could not possibly be English; my sense of adventure felt way too strong. I also decided that I had to live a life that was as different as possible in every way to that of my parents.

All the adults I knew seemed to be profoundly unhappy people.......all, that is, except for Mr. Milner. To me, as a five year old, this white haired gentleman seemed very old and very mysterious and totally fascinating. He had lived most of his life overseas. As he now lived just down the road from me, walking distance, I would visit him frequently. For hours I would sit happily in his garden shed watching him work, as he regaled me with his stories. My head adorned with one of his old pith helmets I listened, spellbound, as Mr. Milner transported me to a mysterious world he called India.

From about my twelfth birthday on, every birthday, I would come downstairs with my little suitcase packed and ask, "Can I go now?" I loved my parents, but I just knew I was meant to be adventuring and that one day... I had to get to India!

Perhaps you have your own memories of what adventure meant to you as a child. Now, please take a moment to reread the definition at the beginning of this and then ask yourself: "Is my life an adventure?" Chances are that, according to that definition of adventure you will discover you are in the midst of one.

Maybe some of you were aware of that already, but how many of you wake up in the morning thinking of the day ahead of you as an adventure? Perhaps, some of you will say, "Yes, I do!" Perhaps, some of you will be surprised and saddened that you have not thought of life in this way for quite a while.

So my question is - exactly as it was in childhood – why do most adults stop experiencing life as an adventure? Every moment is potentially hazardous. Every moment of life is uncertain. In every moment we face the potential of danger and jeopardy, no matter who we are or where we are. Every moment is new and so, unknown. These sentences are definitions of adventure. So, why is adventure not our conscious experience all of the time?

Perhaps, if we don't experience life as adventure it is because, for us, the word adventure has assumed, primarily, the connotation of 'exciting'.... We look at our life and our unpaid bills covering the kitchen table; a health problem and no insurance and have no idea what to do next. We look at our life and see nothing at all exciting about it. The trouble is that if we don't know that adventure really means-risky, uncertain, hazardous, unpredictable outcome- we won't realize that as we stand before our unpaid bills we are actually in the midst of an adventure.

As a grown up - somewhat grown up – I finally realized that it is not England that sucks the adventure out of adults. The culprits who steal adventure from us are our assumptions. When we assume we expect and when we expect we are blinded to alternatives, blinded to potential, blinded to possiblities.

Once I understood this I began to explore these pesky culprits, assumptions, with a passion. And in this process, The BreakThrough System was born.

In BreakThrough 2 you will experience story telling; universal myths that will give imagery to your own soul's journey. Together we will explore the masculine and feminine archetypes in these stories; their roles; their personal stories; the dangers they face; how they go about dealing with them. As we do this we will discover how all of this plays out in our own lives.

Each of the stories in BreakThrough 2 tells of an adventure. What this means is that as we explore these stories together we will also be exploring and experiencing the world beyond our assumptions.

We are very happy to announce a big change for those of you wishing to take BreakThrough As of now, May 2013, there will no longer be any prerequisites to attending BreakThrough 2

Please note that Esther's upcoming BreakThrough 2 in England will probably be the only BreakThrough 2 class she teaches this year.